Sense Of Reality Needed

How many people appear to have given up the ghost already. I’m sure when I watched Sky Sports News over the weekend it showed us losing the game by one freak goal in the very last minute. And I’m sure that league rules state that any side being beaten shall just earn no points and not be deducted a few in the process.

So I went and checked the league table this morning and I was right all along. We were fourth. Scunthorpe were just a point ahead of ourselves. We did have 71 points on the board. And we were almost within distance of the leading side in the division. So I undid the slit I had put on my wrists and went back to realising that the season was far from over.

Some people may take offence about this comment but some Swansea fans do need to wake up and take a reality check. Either that or get a grip of themselves because this season is very much alive. Instead of pressing the panic button repeatedly after each defeat try reading the comments of those that were there and realise that an easy run in is only easy on paper or when all the games have been won.

I find it incredible that I have read posts that

• Scunthorpe will win all their remaining games (they have won 4 out of the last 10 and just 1 of the last 10 away from home)

• Yeovil and Scunthorpe are as good as up (despite it being possible that Southend could be 4th this time next week and of course the small matter that they face each other on April 30)

• We’ve got Bristol Rovers to play so it’s the end of the world (despite Bristol being the other side of the bridge, as far as I am aware it’s not the end of the world as such)

• Garry Monk is clearly an idiot who deserves being lined up against a wall and not just shot but being forced to wear a Cardiff City top at the same time (despite the fact that many believe he is the best defender at the club)

• We don’t deserve to go up if we cannot beat sides like Lincoln completely ignoring the fact that they are in the top 7 and have been for the past couple of seasons on a pretty much shoestring budget

Believe it or not there are Swansea fans who have uttered at least one of these comments since the final whistle blew on Saturday. Are they for real or what? This isn’t a ‘we will go up’ article despite the fact I think we will but more a ‘get your head out of your arse and support the team’ article. I’m not going to pretend we are the best footballing side in the world because even I would concede that Chelsea are marginally better (!) but at the same side we have proved ourselves to be one of the best sides in the division over the course of the season. And to quote a phrase that some like to use “FACT”

We have put ourselves in the position we are in and deserve to be there. We have to move from here and see if we can make the final step into league one.

Friday night sees the last Friday night game ever at the Vetch. It could be such a special atmosphere but I hope and pray that we score inside two minutes. Why? Not so much that it will calm our nerves but because if we don’t then the brain dead get into gear and start the booing and jeering straight away. It’s incredible isn’t it but that is usually how long it takes for the abuse to start flying.

Sorry guys but like it or not we are in this together. We have to be behind the team 100% for 90 minutes for four games now, if we aren’t then maybe we don’t deserve to be promoted. I accept that the performance on the pitch helps the crowd but believe me the players will always tell you it can work the other way around. Years back, when the side didn’t play well the crowd got more behind them, now we have a section that get more in at the bar such is the way that it goes. And then they hand out abuse to our own players or as one bloke near me the last time I stood on the North Bank said “That Number 10 is crap – Connor isn’t it?”

I had a brief chat with James Thomas in the club shop the other week and he confirmed that it does affect the players if they are singled out for abuse. He wondered how Mickey Howard used to cope at times and was amazed when we told him that Kris O’Leary still took more than his fair share of rubbish.

I hate to say this but there is a need for supporting the side at the moment and that in itself means more than just turning up at the ground and enjoying the moan. There’s only four games left surely even we can manage that?

And to those that have given up, don’t let your complete lunacy rub off on the players eh?

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